Music Friday: Kelly Clarkson Sings, 'You Used to Make Me Feel Like a Diamond'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome new songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, pop star Kelly Clarkson sings about rejuvenating a listless relationship in her 2017 gospel-inspired release, "Heat."

In the song, Clarkson assumes the role of a woman whose marriage is suffering because the passion seems to be gone. Although she still loves her husband, she hammers home the sobering message that the status quo isn't good enough...

She sings, "Baby I deserve it, don't let me down / You used to make me feel like a diamond / Now it don't even seem like you're tryin' / So give me one good reason that I should need you."

In real life, Clarkson and her husband/manager Brandson Blackstock have made a concerted effort to remain fully devoted to each other — no matter what obstacles get in the way.

"[My husband and I] put our kids down and it's like date night every night," she told Entertainment Weekly. "We don't want to be one of those relationships where the passion is gone because you're so tired."

Described by music critic Michael Cragg of The Observer as "pure unadulterated joy," "Heat" was released as the third single from Clarkson's eighth studio album, Meaning of Life. The song peaked at #17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the album hit #2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and #4 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart.

Clarkson, who is currently a coach on The Voice, performed "Heat" on that show in early December and on NBC's New Year's Eve telecast a few days ago.

Born in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1982, Kelly Brianne Clarkson rose to fame in 2002 after winning the inaugural season of American Idol. Since then, Clarkson has sold more than 25 million albums and 45 million singles worldwide. She has earned three Grammy Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, four American Music Awards and two Academy of Country Music Awards.

Please check out the video of Clarkson’s live performance of “Heat” as part of her "Nashville Sessions" series at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

"Heat"
Written by Andre Davidson, Sean Davidson, Mick Schultz, Jessica Ashley Karpov and Michael Pollack. Performed by Kelly Clarkson.

I'm stumblin' through the darkness
There ain't no sign of a spark here
I'm used to feelin' that fire
You watered down that desire
I put my work in, day in, day out
Baby I deserve it, don't let me down
You used to make me feel like a diamond
Now it don't even seem like you're tryin'
So give me one good reason that I should need you

Come turn this around
(Oh, whoa, oh)
No, no, don't let us down
I need more heat from ya, baby
Make me feel weak for ya, babe
(Oh, whoa, oh)
And I feel alive
(Oh, whoa, oh)
Like my heart's in the wild
I need more heat from ya, baby
Make me feel weak for ya, babe

I'm slippin' out of your fingers
Keep coolin' down like November
I'm used to feelin' that fever
I wanna dive in you deeper
I put that work in, day in, day out
Baby I deserve it, don't let me down, no
Give me one good reason that I should need you

Come turn this around
(Oh, whoa, oh)
No, no, don't let us down
I need more heat from ya, baby
Make me feel weak for ya, babe
(Oh, whoa, oh)
And I feel alive
(Oh, whoa, oh)
Like my heart's in the wild
I need more heat from ya, baby
Make me feel weak for ya, babe

Better than that
Better than that
You know I love you
Better than that
Better than that
So come on love me
Better than that
Better than that
Oh we can do so much
Better than that
Better than that

Come turn this around
(Oh, whoa, oh)
No, no, don't let us down
I need more heat from ya, baby
Make me feel weak for ya, babe
(Oh, whoa, oh)
And I feel alive
(Oh, whoa, oh)
Like my heart's in the wild
I need more heat from ya, baby
Make me feel weak for ya, babe

Better than that
Better than that
You know I love you
Better than that
Better than that
So come on love me
Better than that
Better than that
Oh we can do so much
Better than that
Better than that

Better than that
Better than that
You know I love you
Better than that
Better than that
So come on love me
Better than that
Better than that
Oh we can do so much
Better than that
Better than that

Screen capture via YouTube.com/Kelly Clarkson.

Demantoid Garnet Is the Rarest and Most Valuable Variety of January's Birthstone

First discovered in Russia’s Ural Mountains in 1851, the vivid green demantoid garnet is the rarest and most valuable variety of January's birthstone.

Demantoid is derived from the Dutch word for diamond, "demant." The stone owes its impressive diamond-like brilliance to two main factors: A high refractive index and a high dispersion (its ability to separate light into the spectrum of colors). Demantoid, in fact, boasts the highest dispersion rating of all gemstones, including diamond.

The green gem was a favorite of designer Carl Fabergé, who incorporated demantoid into the famous jeweled eggs and other fanciful jewelry he created for the Russian Imperial family. Russian mining of demantoid garnet was suspended after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, but finally resumed in the 1970s.

Fine-quality demantoid garnets are rarely found in sizes larger than 2 carats, a fact that makes the examples on this page all the more impressive.

The cushion-cut demantoid, above, is a world-class gemstone and one of the largest and finest faceted demantoids known. The 11.24-carat gem was mined in Russia in the late 1990s and exhibits the highly prized vivid intense emerald-green color. The gem joined the Smithsonian Gem and Mineral Collection in 2011.

The 6.96-carat oval demantoid, below, is from the Green Dragon Mine in Namibia and exhibits a medium dark yellowish-green color. It was purchased on behalf of the Smithsonian in 2014 with funds from the Tiffany & Co. Foundation.

Interestingly, George F. Kunz, who was Tiffany and Co.'s vice president of gemology from 1879 until his death in 1932, was a big fan of demantoid garnets and reportedly purchased all the rough material he could get his hands on.

Demantoid gems are usually high in clarity but may contain distinctive "horsetail" inclusions that seem to spray out from the center of the stone. A beautiful, well-formed inclusion can increase the value of the gemstone considerably, according to the International Color Stone Association.

Demantoid garnet is currently mined in Iran, Namibia, Pakistan, Italy, Madagascar and Canada, but the Russian demantoid continues to set the standard by which all the others are judged.

African-origin demantoid tends to be yellowish-green, olive green or brownish, due to higher concentrations of iron. Russian material, on the other hand, owes its color to chromium and tends to be vivid green.

Other garnet varieties seen in jewelry include pyrope, almandine, andradite, grossularite, hessonite, rhodolite, tsavorite, spessartine and uvarovite.

Credits: Photo of 11.24-carat demantoid garnet by Harold and Erica Van Pelt/Smithsonian. Photo of 6.96-carat demantoid garnet by Greg Polley/Smithsonian.

This Multi-Cooker Does a Lot of Things, But Producing Fine Jewelry Isn't One of Them

Imagine Shiloah Avery's surprise when she unpacked the box to her new Instant Pot on Christmas morning only to find a gold and diamond wedding ring inside. While the multi-cooker is famous for doing so many things — it combines an electric pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, browning pan and warming pot in one handy unit — producing fine jewelry is not one of them.

"I pulled the bottom packaging material out and there was a wedding ring in the bottom of it. And it wasn’t just like an engagement ring, it was an actual wedding band and ring," the Port Orchard, Wash., resident told Q13 Fox. "...You could tell it'd been someone's ring for a long time."

Avery was determined to find the rightful owner. First, she contacted the company that makes the Instant Pot and put in a service ticket. But, feeling the need to be even more proactive, Avery posted a note about the ring to the Port Orchard Facebook group.

"I could only imagine if that was me, and it was sad," Avery said. "It's somebody's possession, especially being a wedding ring, so I wanted to make sure it got back to the owner."

A few months earlier, Joann Johnson had been shopping for an Instant Pot at the Walmart Supercenter in Port Orchard. Only the large version was on display, so Johnson opened a box containing a smaller one to get a look at the product. Sometime during that maneuver, the wedding ring slipped off her finger. It was only a few days short of her 20th wedding anniversary.

When she returned home and realized the ring was gone, Johnson also turned to the Port Orchard Facebook group for help, asking anybody who might encounter a diamond band at Walmart to please turn it in to customer service.

"Didn’t get any responses other than 'Gee, hope you find it,'" Johnson told Q13 Fox.

Avery's post did much better. Within 12 hours, the rightful owner had come forward.

Johnson said "it was like an electrical shock going through me" when she saw Avery's Facebook photo of an Instant Pot along with the caption, "I found a ring."

Johnson contacted Avery and proved the ring was hers by drawing a picture of it.

The two women met for the first time with the Q13 Fox cameras rolling. Johnson told the news team that Avery is her "Christmas angel" and that the return of her ring is truly a Christmas miracle.

“It’s been fun making a new friend,” Avery told Q13 Fox. “And it’s been really nice having a good ending to it.”

Credits: Screen captures via q13fox.com.